Big Salmon Lake Just leave me your stardust to remember you by

I hate you, said Isilmë's voice behind him, and Dragomir's ears slammed back against his skull. No, no, no no no no, he wanted to plead, because at first he thought she was talking to him. It made sense. If he hadn't gone with Sanguinus, he wouldn't have been tortured and thrown off the mountain. His legs wouldn't have broken. His family wouldn't have gone to Kaistleoki. His mother wouldn't have grown restless enough to leave on a scouting trip for the sake of finding allies for the pack. She wouldn't have been struck by lightning and made the inconceivable decision to never come home. Vercingetorix wouldn't have felt the need to find her for the sake of his kids. He wouldn't be here. He would be alive.

His family would still be whole, if not for Dragomir.

So it made sense for Isilmë to hate him, but that didn't make it an easy pill to swallow. She was all he had left and he couldn't handle the slice of her knife against his broken heart. He couldn't turn to face her until the slosh of water drew his focus sharply upward, and his trembling crouch became a defensive one. Was she going to attack him? No, no, she was going over to Vercingetorix, throwing herself against his body, grabbing his nape, ripping his nape off what the fu—

Dragomir couldn't bear it. He reeled back and forced his hindquarters to the earth in a feeble effort to ground himself as bile spewed from his muzzle once more. That was soon joined by Isilmë's when she careened into him. God, what a fucking mess they were, but who could blame them? They went from having two parents—one missing, but presumably still thinking of them, and one present—to zero in one fell swoop.

He was shivering and he couldn't stop. He needed to get out of the water, but he couldn't move. Teeth chattering and mind whirling, Dragomir shoved his snout into his sister's shoulder and weakly cried, Isiwhatdowedonow? He could not come to terms with Vercingetorix's death, but bizarrely, that wasn't at the forefront of his mind despite his shock. Instead, he was thinking about how the hell they were going to prove their worth to Moonspear without their dad.

Both of them should be skilled young wolves by now, but Dragomir's hunting practice ground to a halt the day he was thrown from that cliff, and he didn't know whether Isilmë's fighting skills alone could earn their keep until he was strong enough to resume his hunting. He hoped it was, but black clouds descended on him and told him that it was impossible for them to do enough without Verx.

Hydra would throw them out. He just knew it. Yet they had nowhere else to go. Kaistleoki was too far and too close to Verx's nemesis to be safe for them now. Aurëwen was not an option, not after this. So he would ultimately return to the mountain once he came to grips with what had happened here, even if it meant facing a row of teeth. What was the pain of teeth compared to the shattering of your heart or the snapping of your sanity?